Dr. Samir Mardini, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic said Sandness would be the perfect candidate for the medical center's first ever face transplant surgery as the two men were a near-perfect match with similar ages, blood type, skin color, and facial structure.

A year after the surgery, Sandness said his new face has let him live his life to the fullest, and is no longer ashamed of his appearance.

"I wouldn't go out in public. I hated going into bigger cities," he said. "And now I'm just really spreading my wings and doing the things I missed out on - going out to restaurants and eating, going dancing."

Sandness will be on a daily regimen of anti-rejection medication for the rest of his life. He goes to therapy to retrain the nerves in his new face, and to has to learn to use his tongue in his new mouth, but he doesn't mind.

“Once you lose something that you’ve had forever, you know what it’s like not to have it,” he said. “And once you get a second chance to have it back, you never forget it.”

For Lilly, meeting Sandness has finally given her peace following the death of her husband.

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